Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has hinted she could want to serve in Theresa May’s cabinet in future, as she defended the prime minister against Labour accusations of being “no sister” on women’s rights.
Asked if she would like to be elected as an MP to serve in May’s top team, Davidson told a fringe event that she would be staying out of the cabinet “for some time”.
The MSP has been tipped as a possible future national leader, even though the Conservatives only have one seat in Scotland and she has failed at previous attempts to become an MP.
Davidson, who is hugely popular within her party, has been prominent at the four-day conference in Birmingham and will give a speech to the main hall on Wednesday defending May’s credentials as a feminist.
Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, had accused May of being “a woman – but no sister”, pointing to her record of support for measures that harm women, such as cuts to childcare tax credits and opposition to all-women shortlists for parliamentary candidate selection.
Davidson is expected to attack Harman for missing May’s achievements while “bathing in her own leftwing sanctimony” made during a “ghettoised women’s conference tacked on to the main event”.
“Theresa May has broken barriers her entire life – first female Conservative party chairman, longest serving home secretary – male or female – since Henry Matthews in 1892, and only the second female prime minister in our country’s history,” she will say.
“And she’s made sure she’s helped women at every turn along the way. Increasing female participation in politics by setting up Women 2 Win. Cracking down on domestic abuse and passing new laws on modern slavery, female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
“She’s done more for women than all the pink election buses Labour can launch.”
May describes herself as a feminist and was pictured by the Fawcett Society in a “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt. But Harman launched a blistering attack on her last month, accusing her of failing to stand up for fellow women.
“We’ve got a new Tory prime minister – and she’s a woman. But like Margaret Thatcher before her, Theresa May is no supporter of women,” she said.
“When we were pushing for more Labour women MPs, she chased me round TV and radio studios decrying us, joining the men in her party and some in ours who called it ‘political correctness gone mad’.
“And while she’s been in government, she’s voted every time for the cuts to the vital programmes that we brought in when we were in government, like Sure Start centres, and for tax credits for childcare.”
